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The New Zealand dollar continued its rally, topping 86 US cents and charting a new record on a trade-weighted basis as the nation’s economic fundamentals and demand for high yields in a low-rate world drove demand. The kiwi rose to 86.32 US cents from 85.92 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index rose to 79.36 from 79.11. Stocks …

Guinness Peat Group’s wind-down may face a bump in the road after the UK Pensions Regulator indicated it’s taking a look at two of the pensions schemes the investment firm is responsible for. The group, which expects to rebrand under the name of its UK threadmaker unit, Coats, later this year, has been told by the British regulator the watchdog …

Guinness Peat Group chairman Rob Campbell, who was brought into the investment firm to oversee its wind-down, has joined the board of rental campervan operator Tourism Holdings. The appointment takes the number of independent directors on the Tourism Holdings board to five of the six-strong board, and the company expects to make another addition in coming months, said independent director …

Wall Street climbed to fresh highs as investors bet that the pace of the economic recovery, both at home and abroad, will sustain corporate profit growth. The initial catalyst for today’s rally was another piece of good news from China. Reports showed that the nation’s imports increased more than expected last month, rising 14.1 percent, while export growth eased to …

Guinness Peat Group, the investment company liquidating its holdings, has agreed to sell 19.9 percent of ASX-listed property developer CIC Australia to Peet Ltd for about $15 million. Peet today announced a cash takeover for all the shares in CIC for 60 Australian cents apiece or A$76 million, it said in a statement to the ASX. CIC has seven active …

Fletcher Building executive Dave Worley has left the country’s biggest listed company after the Crane unit he was responsible for was folded into the parent. The Auckland-based company will disestablish Crane, which has been operating as a separate group since its takeover two years ago, in a bid to better align the construction firm’s units, Fletcher said in a statement. …

New Zealand retail spending on electronic cards fell in March, snapping five months of gains, as Easter trimmed two trading days and kiwis spent less on durable goods and clothing. Retail spending on credit, debit and charge cards fell 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, last month, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding fuel and vehicles, core retail spending fell 0.8 percent …

Crucial face-to-face talks between the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter and its electricity supplier, Meridian Energy, resume in Wellington today, with both sides blocking out the rest of the week, if necessary, to try and nut out a new electricity contract. Representatives of the smelter’s 80 percent owner, Pacific Aluminium, are due to arrive for the talks at …

The New Zealand dollar rose above 85 US cents for the first time in two months as global equity markets rose, local business confidence improved and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave no hint that quantitative easing could end. The kiwi advanced to 85.21 US cents, rising above 85 cents for the first time since Feb. 15, from 84.86 cents …

Wall Street advanced, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sauntering to an intraday record as investors found value in Microsoft, Intel and Cisco. Shares of Microsoft, last up 3.7 percent, Intel, last up 3.4 percent, and Cisco, last up 2.3 percent propelled the Dow to a fresh intraday high of 14,716.46. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index followed suit, touching …